Biography for
Francis X. Bushman More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

10 January 1883, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Date of Death

23 August 1966, Pacific Palisades, California, USA (heart attack)

Birth Name

Francis Xavier Bushman

Nickname

King of the Movies

Height

5' 11" (1.80 m)

Spouse

Iva Millicient Richardson	(15 August 1956 - 23 August 1966) (his death)
Norma Emily Atkin	(19 September 1932 - 4 February 1956) (her death)
Beverly Bayne	(29 July 1918 - 2 June 1925) (divorced) 1 child
Josephine Fladine Duval	(2 June 1902 - 26 July 1918) (divorced) 5 children

Trivia

Died after a fall.

Entered films with Essanay Studios.

Father with Josephine Fladune of art director Bruce Bushman, Virginia Bushman, Lenore Bushman, Josephine, and actor Ralph Bushman.

Father with Beverly Bayne of Richard Stansbury Bushman, who later changed his name to Bayne, and killed himself in 1957.

Grandfather of actor Pat Conway and Barbara Bushman.

Was the first film actor to be called "King of the Movies." That label would, in later decades, be affixed to Clark Gable, where it still remains.

He donated land to Sid Grauman, on which now sits Mann's (formerly Grauman's) Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California.

Although the nickname "King of the Movies" was eventually given to Clark Gable, it is engraved on Bushman's headstone in Los Angeles.

At 5 foot 11, he was often shorter than his 6 foot co-stars and even some of his leading ladies. In many of his early films, he stood on a box to make him taller in close-ups.

When appearing on the "You Bet Your Life" radio show on February 3, 1958, he stated to Groucho Marx that during his career, that he had received over 17,000 marriage proposals from amorous female fans.

Drove around Hollywood in a Marmon limousine which had his name embossed on its sides.

Always accompanied by five Great Danes - amazingly, he had another 295 living on his 280-acre Maryland estate.

Salary

Hollywood Story (1951)

$55/day